WHO Raises Ebola Death Rate to 50% in DRC Outbreak
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a death rate of 30% to 50%, the World Health Organization said as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Kinshasa on Thursday. The revised estimate is based on confirmed cases, and the WHO said the true scale may be larger because the virus is believed to have circulated undetected for some time.
Tedros in Kinshasa
Tedros told reporters after arriving in Kinshasa that “That thing can be stopped,” and said, “Together, we will overcome this outbreak,” while pledging “everything in my power to help.” He also said conflict and displacement make outbreak response harder, and made a direct appeal to warring parties in the region to declare a ceasefire.
“I am making a direct appeal to all warring parties in this region: please declare a ceasefire. No cause, no conflict, no grievance is worth condemning innocent people to death from a preventable disease,” Tedros said. The WHO said Uganda announced on Wednesday that it would immediately close its border with the DRC after recording one Ebola death and eight additional cases, a move the WHO warned could drive up informal crossings and make containment harder.
WHO's outbreak count
Anaïs Legand said the revised death-rate estimate means that up to five out of 10 people are likely to die. The WHO had recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, along with more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases. On 27 May, a patient recovered from Ebola and was discharged from a health centre in the DRC after two negative tests, the first recovery confirmed in the outbreak.
The WHO said its advisory groups recommended clinical trials of vaccines and treatments on Thursday. Jean Kaseya said a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year. The outbreak is the 17th recorded Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Ebola was first identified in 1976 and where the WHO says outbreaks have averaged a 50% death rate across all previous epidemics.
Ituri province delay
Tedros was due to travel to Ituri province on Friday, but the trip was pushed back by a day. The province sits in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an area affected by armed conflict and displacement, where the WHO says the Bundibugyo strain has made containment more difficult. Armed groups operating in the area include the Rwanda-backed M23, which controls large parts of the North and South Kivu provinces south of Ituri.
More than 245,000 people have fled eastern DRC to neighbouring countries since January 2025, according to the UN refugee agency. For people in the outbreak zone, the immediate pressure is on access to testing, vaccination trials and safe treatment as health teams try to reach communities before more transmission goes undetected.
